The atmosphere was still and silent as Anne struggled through the dense forest shrubbery, ducking and wriggling her way around the low branches of trees. The harsh unforgiving wood whacked and scraped at her upper body as the thick roots snagged Anne's feet from underneath herself. She walked a few feet more when she was met with a wall of shrubbery. Crouching low to the ground, she pulled her backpack around to her chest and uncomfortably half-crawled, half-crouched under through the particularly thick and tall section of underbrush.

A string of colorful curses spurted forth and into the tranquil forest air when Anne's hair was yanked into the grasp of a passing tree branch. Whipping her hand up, Anne wrenched the hair from the tree's hold, snarling when the clump of hair was relinquished from the branch, but also from her head, leaving a small patch of stinging scalp. She rubbed at her head and muttered obscenities, shouldering her back pack as she continued her way deeper into the forest.

Half an hour into Anne's hike, she plopped down onto her bottom and swung her pack onto her lap. Opening the bag, she reached into it and rummaged around, finally pulling out a bottle of water and an apple. Munching on the fruit, she took a look at her surroundings. All around her was wild vegetation. Trees soared high above her head, reaching up to the heavens, while vines crawled along the ground, snaking towards Anne. If Anne squinted, she could make out small wildlife as well. A few yards away stood a deer, stock still, staring at her with wide doe eyes, its body riddled with the beautiful patterns of nature in a rich white and chocolate hue. A soot black rabbit darted across a small patch of grass, and towards a hole in the ground next to an old oak tree, where Anne could just see the faces of tiny newborn rabbits peeping out. To her left, Anne could hear the sound of rushing water and, if she strained her eyes and squinted even harder, could also see the tell tale signs of a glistening blue lake.

Anne finished eating her apple, took a swig of water, then opened a compartment in her pack and pulled out a small plastic baggie, placing the leftovers of the fruit inside of it. She threw her water bottle back into her bag and hitched her knapsack up onto her back again.

She continued forward, deeper into the forest.

I smell bad.

I hate smelling bad.

Wrinkling my nose, I took another sniff near my underarm, making my nose scrunch up even more. Ugh.

But I guess this is what I get for staying out in the sun for so long, wandering around…

I ran a hand through my sweaty hair and pondered what I was going to do next. I couldn't go drifting around lost in a forest with no goal in sight, after all. I'd die of my stink!

I raked around in my brain to try and find why I came out this deep into the ravine behind my house in the first place – oh right! To find a picture perfect setting, where I can take a snapshot of the scene, go home, and in the comfort of my studio, paint the shot. Why was I doing this again…?

Ah. Yeah. Homework.

This is so lame…

But a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

I shouldered my pack in an attempt to make myself more comfortable, and licked my left pinky, holding the finger up into the air, hoping to catch a slight draft to point me in the direction I should go. No such luck.

"Okay, then," I muttered. "The invisible, non-blowing wind is guiding me… This way."

I turned on heel and stalked off in the direction where I heard the rush of water.

My jaw dropped, and my eyes bulged.

I had never ventured this far into the ravine alone before. I hope I can find my way back home…

The thought was shoved to the back of my mind as I remembered the spectacle before me. My eyes snapped back to the wonderful, misting, dazzling waterfall.

I'd seen pictures of Niagra Falls before, both the Canadian version and the American, and right now, I tried to compare the amazing thing in front of me with the photographs and postcards that I had received and seen on store shelves.

Those shameful, photoshopped, imitations can't even begin to measure up to the real thing.

I held my arm out ahead of me, and even many meters away, I could feel the cool vapor from the waterfall crawling up my arm, soothing all the scratches that I'd gained from the underbrush and calming me down. I sighed in contentment and stepped up to the river bank, right in front of the falls, brandishing my cheap camera and hoping beyond hope that the thing would be able to capture the image before me.

And for once, it did.

I smiled, a big, wide, spreading grin that stretched across my whole face. I might as well rest here for a bit and relax; I think I deserve it after all that damned hiking.

I let my pack fall from my arms and onto the ground beside me. Using it as a pillow, I spread eagled my limbs, and felt the mist wash over my entire sweaty body while the sunshine that was peeking through the treetops warmed me comfortably. My eyes began to droop, and not a second later, they closed and I drifted through the entrance of La-La Land.

Soon, Anne Leroy was but a slumbering adolescent in the midst of something mystical; something that happened only once in many millennia. Eyes of all colors – scarlet, fire, gold, emerald, cobalt, cerulean and amethyst, to be exact – peered down at her tiny figure from above in another dimension. Muttered and quiet quarreling ensued.

"Should she-"

"No if-"

"-death, something worse…"

"So what, but a human-"

"-at stake, even if human."

"Stupid, disgusting-"

"Good enough to-"

"Definitely not-"

"Hush, she will wake."

One pair of sharp emerald eyes narrowed, and instead of their usual bright electric hue, the color around the irises turned an ugly color of vomit, before flashing once and glowing flaringly bright. The eyes turned themselves to glare at a pair of pale amethyst eyes. "This concerns me because?"

"Because you shall reside in her, and help her through the game we have laid out for her. It will not do you or her well if you do not allow her to rest during her journey."

A murmur of agreement from the others sounded.

"I. Shall. Not. I will not be associated with such beasts, much less lower myself to such a level as to share a body with one!"

Six pairs of red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo and violet eyes focused themselves on two green ones. A collective voice rose from all the speakers, forming a low, growling rumble that shook the green eyed outline to the core, despite his attempts to hold himself still. "You shall."

The emerald eyes' owner found himself being hurtled down to Earth by a pair of well manicured hands, the smoky tendrils of flames, the slivery strands of golden silk, cold winds that belong to the night sky, the freezing touch of death, and the slight push of conscience and life, into a small, unsuspecting figure's soul.

Blearily, I slowly opened my eyes, rubbing at them to clear them of sleep muck. Shoot. I fell asleep…

I glanced down at my watch. It read, '2:53 P.M.'. I breathed a sigh of relief. I still have a few hours to spare incase I still need to do anything until I have to get home…

Kneading my temples in an attempt to get my brain working, I remembered where I was and why I was there. Sure enough, the magnificent waterfall that I had fallen asleep in front of was still in front of me, mist was still weaving in and out of the air, surrounding the place with a cool embrace and I was still lying beside the falls' riverbank. My unsteady and thick with sleep fingers fumbled with my koala knapsack's buckle, before pulling out my camera and browsing through the pictures I'd taken today. Just like I'd suspected, a superlative picture of the falls was planted on my camera's memory stick.

I kissed my camera's focus lens, than the machine's memory stick. Thank you so much!

I was going to spring up from the grass, parade out of the ravine and back into my home singing at the top of my lungs in my victory, and go straight into my studio loft to start painting my picture for my school assignment.

I was going to. I truly was.

But it seemed that Fate wasn't on my side today.

I felt as if someone had tied seven Mt. Everests onto my back when I tried to get up and off the ground; it was a struggle to even get onto my knee. When I tried to place my weight onto said kneeling leg, it collapsed. What the Hell?

My whole body trembled with the effort of moving, and by the time I had made the kneeling position again, I was covered with a sheen of gleaming sweat.

Black dots began to dance in front of my eyes. I blinked slowly and sluggishly to try and shoo them away. My limbs stopped responding to my mind's commands, and I slumped onto the lush grass, my head resting on my koala pack once more, since I had taken it off and laid it on the ground in my struggle to get upright and standing.

The mist didn't feel or look very beautiful and calming or soothing anymore. It fogged up my brain, and made everything I saw white. The tendrils of the vapor curled around my fingers as if trying to comfort me, but to me, it seemed as welcome as a bunch of maggots trying to kiss my hand. I tried to wriggle my fingers to make the mist disperse, but I couldn't. I didn't have any energy left at all.

My eyes slid close, and the last thing I felt before I fell into Oblivion's embrace was the ground and sky's shudder, a strange feeling as if everything had gone wrong, and that everything would always be wrong from now on, and the world's impending collapse. After a few more minor tremors from the ground and sky, a sensation of being transported far, far away from anything I ever knew befell me. Unconsciously, and using the very last reserves of my strength, my eyes squeezed out wet, salty tears from fear.

The tears were a bright, emerald green, that turned ugly like vomit, then flashed bright once, and disappeared into the Earth's soil.

Then once again, all was still and silent.

So yeah! Here's to completely trashing the first copy of this story and recreating a new one! I've got a more solid base and plot on where I want to steer our darling Anne to this time, instead of writing on a complete whim. I hope you guys found this chapter enjoyable!

I don't own Naruto, and never will, even though no Naruto like things appear in this chapter. It was all OC's and rainbows and stuff.

Sending vodka and sunflowers,

Ami